This invention relates to a stacking and delivery apparatus, and, more particularly, to a stacking and delivery apparatus for stacks of products such as paper napkins, paper towels, and the like.
Paper napkins, paper towels, and similar products are automatically folded and delivered by well-known and conventional machines For example, Paper Converting Machine Company of Green Bay, Wisc. manufacturers machines known as the Super 6 and the Series 11 for cutting, folding, and delivering paper napkins.
It is desirable to provide a machine for automatically dividing the product into stacks of a specified count and for delivering individual stacks for subsequent handling, such as packaging. U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,905 describes one type of automatic stacking and delivery apparatus. In this machine, separating or count fingers are inserted between individual products when a stack has been completed, and separate transfer fingers then engage the completed stack and move the stack toward the delivery end of the machine. However, the separate count fingers and transfer fingers require rather complex actuating means for moving the fingers at the appropriate times.